Maidana can beat Mayweather, says Sergio Martinez

By Allan Fox: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez says he’s really surprised that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) agreed to face Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) in their fight on May 3rd, because Martinez sees Maidana as a really tough fight for the 36-year-old Mayweather. Sergio sees the pressure that Maidana will be putting on Mayweather for the full 12 rounds of the fight will be difficult for him to cope with in this fight.

“Well it’s a very tough fight for Mayweather who is great beyond his years, but I’m surprised he took such a tough matchup because Maidana is a machine, he won’t stop coming and I think he can get the win for Argentina,” Martinez said to the Boxingsocialist.

Sergio and Maidana are both from Argentina, and you have to factor that in the equation when figuring why he’s picking Maidana to beat Mayweather. Maidana does have a 4-fight winning streak going, so it’s quite possible he can beat Mayweather, but it’s not likely unless he catches him with some monstrous shots.

Maidana fought out of this world in the first two rounds against Adrien Broner last December, and if he can fight the same way in the early going against Mayweather, then it’s possible that he might be able to pull off an upset. Mayweather would have a hard time taking the kinds of shots that Broner was hit with by Maidana. Any fighter for that matter would have a tough time trying to take those kinds of monstrous shots. Maidana can definitely punch, and there’s no question that he could get to Mayweather on May 3rd to score a knockout.

Mayweather had pressure put on him in his last two fights against Robert Guerrero and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but neither of those guys were willing to put the kind of pressure on Mayweather like Maidana applied in his last fight against Adrien Broner. Guerrero and Canelo pressured Mayweather, but they also backed off quickly after Mayweather lit them up with some fast combinations.

It was kind of surprising to see Canelo back off because he had a big 20 pound weight advantage over Mayweather, and he was also considerably stronger. But Canelo didn’t seem comfortable in taking the shots that Mayweather was hitting him with, so he ended up giving away most of the rounds of the fight in playing it safe.

Maidana is a much different fighter, though, because he’s someone who is willing to take shots in order to deliver his own, and he’ll likely be willing to bet on himself that he’ll be able to take Mayweather’s best shots. For Maidana to win, he’s going to need to be able to take some healthy punches, because he’s not going to get the win by staying on the outside and trying to box Mayweather. It won’t work. If Maidana wants a victory and the big money that will come with a rematch against Mayweather, he’s going to need to force Mayweather to fight at a pace that will eventually wear him down and show his age.